New Europeans

A Test Site For Everyday Life

Making Histories Feb19 2016, Amsterdam

New Europeans Handbook

In case you were wondering what titles such as Deeply emotional or Making Histories mean, we have some answers.

To guide us in our exploration of everyday life in Europe, we have formulated five themes or reference points: Value for money, Super diversity, Making histories, Playtime, and Deeply emotional. Here’s what they stand for, together with their symbols designed by Freja Kir.

1. Value for money

In the midst of an ongoing European economic crisis, we see not only changes in the value of the Euro, but also changes in European values. We want to find out what our shared European values are. We will do this by exposing the inadequacy of current ways of expressing value, by elevating those things that are truly valuable to a successful society, by uncovering the ways in which economics penetrates the most everyday decisions.

At the same time, we want to examine a type of value that is different than that of the euro – the value of communal bonds and bonds of family and friendship, the inherent value of a well-made thing, the incalculable value of unpaid work carried out in the home and in childcare, and the value of kindness and love.

2. Super diversity

In order to better understand our multicultural society and the contemporary discourse on migration, we need to delve deep into the subjects of identity, othering, ethnicity, and borders. Why do we think in terms of ethnicity and nationality? How does othering work? How problematic is difference in language for having a public sphere? Can we create/ nurture a multicultural community, or should it create itself? Though not all of these questions can be easily answered, it’s important to continue asking them.

3. Making histories

We want to research and re-enact the history of Europe and the EU by searching for moments of rupture, that is moments in the history of Europe when decisions were made that proved to be crucial in determining the state and shape of the union today. These moments in the past may still hold creative potential in the present, and by approaching the history of Europe through its material culture (artifacts, objects, architecture, documents), they can be reinvented. We can imagine alternative presents, we can make (other) histories.

4. Playtime

To most of us Europe feels like a political and decision-making system we cannot influence. However, these decisions influence our everyday life and therefore it is important that we can act upon them. Playing games is a fun and non-formal strategy for empowering people through social interaction. Games are a breach in everyday life, bringing people who are outside the decision-making process right in the middle of it.

5. Deeply emotional

Deeply Emotional – also categorised as TLC – Tender, Love and Care is a theme which puts human emotions at its center. This is the softer side of our project: building emotional relationships and exposing the importance of feelings, acts of kindness and sisterly/brotherly love. We are also interested in distinguishing between personal emotions from political or public emotions and considering ways of bridging the gaps between the two. It explores different ways in which to awaken social bonds and encourage common empathy. This theme also explores the notion of militant care, which is to say, making political statements through the medium of care (aid work, acts of kindness, social work activities).